How Much Does it Cost to Move Across Country? (PA to AZ)

I’m not only going to share with you the cost of relocating my stuff over 2,200 miles across the country from Pennsylvania to Arizona, but also show you the difference of doing it yourself versus hiring a moving company.

DIY – Cost to Move Cross Country

I moved to Tucson, Arizona for work in July of 2020, and even prior to my company relocating the majority of my stuff, I drove out with my dad in a pickup truck stuffed to the brim with just enough stuff to live with for a few weeks until the corporate relocation benefit kicked in.

Even if you don’t plan on doing this yourself, you still physically have to get to your destination and this cost needs to be considered as part of your relocation.

Additionally, gas prices averaged $2.18 per gallon at the time and it took just about 140 gallons of gas to get out there, so this was an additional $300.

The grand total to move 2 people and a pickup truck full of stuff across the country was approximately $830.

Hire a Moving Company

My company paid for the relocation of the rest of my stuff which involved sending 2 movers in a box truck to pack and load everything in Pennsylvania, drive it out west, and 12 days later in Arizona, my stuff arrived and the movers unloaded it into my house.

I don’t know exactly how much the stuff in the back of my personal pickup truck weighed, but I would estimate that the total weight was less than 500 pounds. Let’s just say 500 pounds for the sake of this example.

Contrast this with the total weight of what the moving company moved which was approximately 900 pounds. The cost of hiring the movers ended up being nearly $3,000 which my company paid for through the corporate relocation benefit.

These are very rough numbers, but if we break it down (all things considered) it cost me $1.66 per pound to move stuff and it costs $3.30 per pound to hire a moving company to move stuff.

Rent a Moving Van

Another option is to rent a moving van which is what my parents did when they moved from Pennsylvania to Tennessee.

They made 3 trips and each time their 26 foot moving truck cost on average $750 plus $0.29 per mile as well as around $350 for gas plus some help with packing and unpacking the truck which comes out to be right around $4,000 to move a 2,500 square foot house 800 miles.

Whether it’s across state lines or across the country, you have a few options for moving your stuff. If you have the time and resources, the cheapest way is going to be doing it yourself whereas the more expensive option will be to hire movers.